Mischa Kuball
Kompressor

1999
Wood, acrylic paint, MDF board, glass panes, slide projectors, diapositive
Contemporary Art Collection, permanent loan Mischa Kuball
© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020, Photo: Roman Mensing

The slide / light installation “Kompressor” from 1999 shows images from inside the cubic wooden object. These are reflected several times through the glass panes and projected onto the walls of the exhibition space. Thematically, it is possible to discern two groups of motifs: On the one hand, there are individual portraits of well-known personalities such as Heinrich Böll, Walter Gropius and Marion Dönhoff. These portraits are taken from Paul Swiridoff’s 1965 illustrated volume “Porträts aus dem geistigen Deutschland” (Portraits from intellectual Germany) - and so draw our attention to significant personalities from the perspective of German society during the 1960s. A total of 81 buildings are recognizable as a second group of motifs. They include architectural icons such as the Einstein Tower, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s German pavilion at the World Exhibition in Barcelona, and the Weissenhof estate in Stuttgart. The compressor, an everyday machine for compressing gases, condenses and sheds light on images from the 20th century. Time, space, language and light - the key concepts in Kuball’s art – can all be found in “Kompressor”.